Brianna is Missing

 

Brianna Dania Thompson is missing. She was last seen October 27. That was over a week ago. Thompson is a resident of Columbia, Maryland.

Location Last Seen: Brianna was last seen on October 27, 2023 at approximately 5pm in the 7300 blk of Kerry Hill Court, wearing a sweatpants and a sweater.

Circumstances of Disappearance: According to Brianna's mother, she left to hangout with her friend, who is also missing.

Last Seen Wearing: Sweatpants, shirt and a sweater.

Identifying Marks or Characteristics: A very noticeable birthmark on her forearm.

The information about Ms. Thompson comes from The Black and Missing Foundation website. 

Black and Missing Foundation, Inc (BAMFI) has been established as a non-profit organization whose mission is to bring awareness to missing persons of color; provide vital resources and tools to missing person’s families and friends and to educate the minority community on personal safety.

Why a Foundation for those who are Black and missing? This page from their website spells it out.

IN 2022 - 214,582 PERSONS OF COLOR WERE REPORTED MISSING. OF THAT GROUP, 153,374 WERE UNDER THE AGE OF 18. YET, MISSING MINORITY CHILDREN ARE GROSSLY UNDERREPORTED IN THE NEWS.

Image from Black and Missing Foundation website

What can we do to level the playing field?

• More diversity in the newsroom 
• Less is more 
• See value in Black and Brown lives 
• Be vigilant 

To put it bluntly, the Black and Missing Foundation, through its work with families of the missing, seeks to counter the lack of attention paid to missing persons who are not white. It’s that simple. Their stories are featured less on the news. Their disappearances are assumed to be less important. Whether deliberately  or without thinking, assumptions are made about whose life is of value and whose is not.

Imagine that someone you love is missing. Would you want all the help you could get? Would you want to know that members of your community cared?

This young woman is a member of our community. We have no newspaper, no television station, no radio station. We have social media, and we have neighbors who can share the news and keep an eye out for a young person whose family is longing for her safe return.